Ola Hansson, PI

Current position

Associate ProfessorGroup leader

Research interest

Our research interest is to understand how genetic variation influences skeletal muscle function and whole-body metabolism. We use translational approaches and regularly conduct focused intervention studies in humans, including skeletal muscle biopsies. From the biopsies, muscle stem cells (satellite cells) are isolated and later used for preclinical measurements. In our projects we combine physiological measurements like VO2MAX, muscular strength and glucose tolerance with preclinical, e.g. RNA and ChIP sequencing, fibre typing, gene knock down and exon skipping. It is our hope that this research will lead to new understanding of skeletal muscle function with implications primarily for human health, but also provide answers to fundamental evolutionary questions. A long-term goal is to tailor the most beneficial exercise program to counteract genetic predisposition to metabolic diseases and type 2 diabetes. To pursue these research questions we have established long-term close collaborations both nationally (Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre, Östersund, Sweden) and internationally (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Boston, US).